Delay in panchayat poll process resented

The protesters raised slogans against officials and the state government. It was only at about 9 p.m. that traffic resumed when the police forcibly removed the villagers from the highway. It was alleged that the police personnel wielded “lathis” on the protesters which resulted in minor injuries being inflicted on some of the protesters.

Long rows of vehicles could be seen on both sides of the national highway and also on the Kharar-Landran road. It took a large number of police personnel to quieten frayed tempers and control traffic, which resumed only around 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, there was total chaos at the offices of the BDPOs of Kharar and Majri block which falls under Kharar sub-division on Thursday and Friday, as thousands of villagers gathered there to get symbols for the candidates contesting the panchayat polls, which were not allotted till 5 p.m. this evening.

Even the names of the total number of candidates whose nomination papers had been found in order were not announced till the filing of this report nor was any list put up, thereby creating much confusion.

There is resentment amongst residents of 259 village panchayats falling in this subdivision who had been camping at the BDPO offices at Kharar and Majri for the last two days.

Ram Takai of Rasanhori village, Harnek Singh of Badali, Bhagwan Singh, Jaswant Singh, Avtar Singh and Sadhu Singh of Dhelpur and Jaswant Singh, a senior CPI leader of Bhabat village, while talking to ENS at the Kharar BDPO office complained that the entire schedule for the panchayat polls had gone haywire. They alleged that nomination papers were received much after the official closing time, and charged that corruption and political pressure came into play in their getting “accepted or rejected.”

They alleged that the nomination papers of a large number of persons owing allegiance to the opposition parties had been rejected on “flimsy” grounds.

Sadhu Singh of Dhelpur village, who is a former Sarpanch said that his nomination papers had been rejected due to the “malafide intentions”of the concerned officials. He said that no reason for given for the rejection.

The villagers charged that the concerned officials were violating election rules and the norms laid sown under the Panchayati Raj Act by rejecting the nomination papers even if there was a clerical error, when it suited them.

They complained that candidates who were government servants were not being given a hearing and those people working with private organisations or in semi-government organisations were not allowed to contest elections.

The villagers by and large were of the opinion that the previous system adopted by the Election Commission for the election process at the village level was better. They said previously the polling parties used to reach the respective village on the polling day or a day in advance and they completed the entire election process of inviting nominations, scrutinizing them and allotting symbols to the contesting candidates on the same day.

They said that the election process now which required making constant visits to the BDPO offices, (where some villagers had camped for entire nights), had caused great hardship for them. They said earlier the village Nambardar used to certify their status as Scheduled Castes or backward classes without any fuss but now they had to visit the SDM office to get these certificates, which was another problem.

Though June 10 was the day for scrutiny of nomination papers and June 11 was the last day for withdrawal of nominations, yet the report about the number of candidates left in the fray besides other information could not be got till the time of filing of this report despite several attempts made at getting these from the BDPO offices at Kharar and Majri.

Every time the BDPOs of Kharar and Majri were contacted, they gave the same answer “the reports are being prepared, please call back after some time.”